Most retirement payouts from the county pension system are based on age, years of service and an average of a retiree's highest three annual salaries, according to a state pension official. But other factors can limit payouts, such as misappropriation of public money and criminal convictions involving violation of laws applicable to a person's office or position, the pension official said.

The retirement board allowed Prada's application for a pension to go forward in April 2008, before the criminal case against him was settled. Board members appeared swayed by the fact that a few days earlier, a clerk-magistrate in Orleans District Court declined to issue a criminal complaint against Prada, 66, on a charge of indecent assault and battery. The magistrate issued the complaint for assault and battery instead, according to court records.

At the time of their decision, though, pension board members said they could review their decision again if needed.

Prada, Truro's part-time fire chief for 20 years, resigned from his job effective March 1, 2008, after a closed-session employment hearing related to him was held on Feb. 28, 2008, in town hall. He applied for his pension on Feb. 28, 2008.

He was employed for 49 years in total with the call fire department. His annual salary in 2007 was $33,000, according to town records.

On Feb. 7, 2008, Prada walked into the dispatch area of the police and fire station, opened the dispatcher's jacket and grabbed each of her breasts, in the presence of two police officers, according to a prosecutor. He then left the room without speaking, the prosecutor said.

In Orleans District Court Wednesday morning, Prada admitted sufficient facts for a guilty finding on the assault and battery charge, avoiding a jury trial that was scheduled that day. As a condition of the plea agreement, Prada must write two letters of apology — one to the victim and one to the Truro Board of Selectmen. He was placed on one-year probation.

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